Ax Makes Deeper Cuts Than In Previous Years

August 21, 1985|By Jerry Greene of the Sentinel Staff

Imagine, if you will, the employment offices in such cities as Miami, Tampa, San Diego and others dotted around the NFL map. Long -- and wide -- lines of massive men in their twenties and early thirties. And all of them looking extremly uncomfortable in XXL business shirts and borrowed ties.

''Ah, have a seat, Mr. Dumbrowsky. In fact, have two seats. Let's see, your resume says you are qualified to, ah, pass or run block with a specialty in sweeps.''

''Yeah.''

''Well, we might have something for you. There's an opening at a major grocery store that sounds perfectly suited for a man of your capabilities.''

''What do I have to do?''

''Sweep.''

''I'll take it.''

Football always has been called a numbers game. Unfortunately for hundreds of highly skilled players, the numbers are wrong this month.

August is a grim month every year for the borderline pro, but this August is the worst. Two things have happened that have created a surplus of beef in the National Football League.

Players are jumping from the USFL as fast as their agents can carry them. As of last week 87 players had left the dwindling ranks of the USFL to join the overstocked NFL camps.

NFL owners chose to save about $200,000 each by cutting the rosters from 49 to 45. That means the NFL is offering 112 fewer jobs.

Add the 87 extra players from the USFL to the cutback of 112 jobs, and we have an extra 199 players who will be out of work compared with last season. Good players, too. Players who will be judged a tenth of a second too slow or a half-inch too short or a year too old.

George Yarno is one of many doing his best to avoid joining the ranks of the professionally unemployed.

Remember George Yarno? When last seen as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Yarno was an offensive lineman by trade but was used as a place-kicker by a coach's perversity. It was the final Bucs game of the disastrous 1983 campaign, played in Detroit's Silverdome. Coach John McKay had left kicker Billy Capece in Tampa and used all 260 pounds of Yarno to kick a fourth-quarter extra point. It was one kick nobody tried to block.

''Don't forget that it was good,'' Yarno said Tuesday. ''I have a perfect 1-for-1 record as a pro kicker and will be happy to kick again. I'll be happy to do whatever the Bucs want me to do.''

Yarno has spent the last two springs playing alongside brother John for the Denver Gold of the USFL. Now he's back with the Bucs, hoping his experience and versatility can win back his role as a backup in the offensive line. Although Yarno was primarily a guard before, the new Bucs coaching staff is testing him as a reserve tackle.

In order to prolong his career at the advanced age of 28, Yarno is trying to prove that you can teach an old Buc new tricks.

''It was entertaining in Denver, but I don't think the USFL is too stable right now,'' he said. ''Besides, I didn't want to sit out the whole year waiting for the USFL to restart in 1986.''

The NFL is stable -- but also full.

One of the all-time best of the Bucs, safety Cedric Brown, was released Tuesday. Fortunately for Brown, 31, he has other skills in computer engineering and has had a full football career if he doesn't find work with another NFL club. Brown didn't want to get the ax but knows nobody avoids it forever.

But the Bucs also waived and shocked rookie quarterback Steve Calabria, 22, who has no other plans than playing football. ''Dazed'' was the best way to describe Calabria as he headed home.

Even after this massive cut, 15 more Bucs must go before the season starts. And Tampa Bay is not unusual. All teams reduce their rosters to 45 in the next two weeks, meaning another 420 young men will have a plane ticket home and a void where their future used to be.

''There are going to be a lot of good players out of work,'' Yarno said. ''But I can't worry about that. All any of us can do is try to hang onto a job.''

Yarno is right. All of us must worry about hanging onto a job. And being ''waived,'' which is pro football's euphemism for ''fired,'' is a shock whether your profession is sweeping around end or sweeping the floors.